Browsing by Author "Vitja, Venni"

The purpose of this study is to describe what kind of perspectives higher education teachers who teach early childhood education and care (ECEC) have about higher education, continuing education, and the development of the ECEC sector. Based on this, three research questions arose: What did higher education teachers say about ECEC studies and their teaching them at universities and universities of applied sciences? What kind of continuing education needs did the teachers teaching ECEC have at the university and university of applied sciences? What kind of themes did the teachers teaching ECEC at the university and university of applied sciences see as essential in developing the field of ECEC? Higher education teachers who teach ECEC are in a significant position when they educate ECEC professionals who are already working in the field and who are graduating to work in the field. The aim of the education is to produce the necessary expertise in the field, which can also be defined as one of of the determining factors of the quality of Finnish ECEC based on previous research (e.g., Karila 2016). Little research has been done in Finland on higher education teachers who train ECEC professionals. However, in the spring of 2024, Finnish Education Evaluation Centre published an evaluation of education in the ECEC sector. There were also higher education teachers who teach ECEC taking part of this evaluation. (Karila et al., 2024). The data for this thesis came from a research material based on the results of a questionnaire by the second term of the Forum for Developing Education and Training Provision and Programmes in ECEC, which operated under the Ministry of Education and Culture. The questionnaire was carried out by the forum's division of Professional competence in a changing operating environment. For the first time in Finland in the spring and summer of 2023, a questionnaire was organized for higher education teachers teaching ECEC in vocational education and higher education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Board of Education. A total of 47 university of applied science teachers from 19 universities of applied sciences and 43 university teachers from seven universities answered the questionnaire. The research was conducted qualitatively using data-driven content analysis and drawing on a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach to interpretation. The data for the thesis consisted of the results of a Finnish and Swedish-language questionnaire directed at university and university of applied sciences teachers teaching ECEC. The questionnaire consisted of four sections comprising 16 questions, mostly structured. The four sections covered background information, teaching experience and educational background, continuing education needs, and open-ended questions. This thesis focuses on the fourth, open-ended section of the questionnaire. (Publications of the Ministry of Education and Culture 2024:7.) Based on the results of the thesis, it appeared that factors related to the intensification of work is a challenge for university teachers teaching ECEC. This became evident, for example, as an increased workload due to the growing number of students studying in hybrid learning. In the universities of applied sciences, the work of teachers teaching ECEC was challenged by the unclear description of the profession of the social pedagogue of ECEC. The ambiguity of this profession description was also manifested in the conflicting perceptions of the expertise of social pedagogue of ECEC among university of applied sciences teachers. Cooperation with various collaborators, such as other early childhood education programs, the working life, and various networks, which were frequently mentioned in the data, appeared diverse and variable. Collaboration was perceived to cover a wide range different aspect, which can leave objectives, methods of operation, responsibilities, durations, and other factors unclear. Based on the data, it would be necessary to clarify the concept of collaboration in the field in the future.